Conservative or Liberal, Deist or Pagan, Jersey transplant or Lehigh Valley native, we're all in this mess together. Let's talk. Let us do no harm. Today's one-liner: "The shortest way to the distinguishing excellence of any writer is through his hostile critics." Richard LeGallienne

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Tuesday, December 01, 2015

Public Official No. 3 Looks Like No. 2

Those naysayers in the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Pa. are at it again. The noose around Fed Ed's neck is growing tighter as prosecutors painstakingly build a power racketeering (RICO) case against Allentown's Mayor, whom we've all come to know and love as Public Official No. 3. The latest of the King's men to fall is one of his own Assistant Solicitors, Dale R. Wiles. He was charged yesterday (criminal information here) in a bid-rigging scheme to replace a privatized tax collector with one more willing to contribute to Edwin Pawlowski's never-ending quests for public office.

The first blow fell against entrepreneur Ramzi Haddad on September 10. He was willing to bribe his way into more favorable treatment. But what was astonishing, even to me, was the revelation that Fed Ed went so far as to buy burner phones and conduct sweeps of his office. That's pretty clear evidence that he's a crook.

Fed Ed has nevertheless gone to work every day acting as though nothing is unusual, posting hypocritical Facebook inspirations each Sunday. He's tried to regain some of his liberal supporters by proudly proclaiming that Syrian refugees are welcome, though just a few months before, he refused to allow Allentown's Syrians them to fly their national flag.

Which brings us to Dale Wiles. He posts inspirational quotes on Facebook, too. Like "A good man or woman will be honest no matter how painful the truth is." And "Never ask someone if they're telling the truth. An honest person will be offended. A liar will just lie to you more."

Wiles, we all know, failed to follow his own advice and conspired with Fed Ed and Pubic Official No. 4 (finance director Gary Strathearn) to defraud the rightful winners of a tax collection contract in favor of a campaign contributor. What's worse, he his documents from the FBI that would reveal the scheme and lied to agents when they confronted him.

Obviously, he's going to jail.

I know Wiles. He used to search titles at the Northampton County courthouse until the bottom fell out of the real estate market. Back in 2010, when he was first appointed Assistant Solicitor, I wrote a story about it.

September 23, 2010 - His wife is a practicing attorney, but Chicago-area native Dale R. Wiles has avoided courtrooms during his time in the Lehigh Valley. He's preferred to make his money searching titles, mostly in Northampton County.

During this time, he and his wife have been soldiers for the local Democratic party. They've made campaign contributions to Democrats seeking local and state office. They also gave to Sam Bennett's disastrous Congressional race against Charlie Dent. Dale and his daughter even participated in one of Bennett's TV ads. "Children's Health Care? Over-rated," he snarks, dressed in a faux Dent T-shirt. Of course, he's a Democratic committeeman, too, and a district boss to boot.

Now that the real estate market is in the tank and his title searching income is down, Dale has played on his political connections for a job an Assistant City Solicitor in Allentown. Wiles is filling the vacancy created when long-time Assistant Solicitor Martin Danks decided to trade in his legal pad for a fireman's uniform. Heaven forbid that Pawlowski would consider leaving the position vacant and save the City some money.

Wiles has absolutely no experience as a lawyer. That may actually be a plus in that office, which seems to spend most of its time denying Right-to-Know-Law requests. What Wiles lacks in experience is made up for by knowing the right people.

$:38, Pawlowski has cut no deal for a bigger fish. What he hs done is almost singlehadedly destroyed democracy in Allentown. He is going to be prosecuted, and then he is going to go to jail. He was no puppet and is very mucha crook in his own right.

As much as I may criticize the NIZ twins, they are far too smart to get caught up in this mess. They have no incentive to steal because they already do it legally.

Because Wiles was a public official and an attorney, he'll be going to jjail, too

Ed had only strengthened his power base through all this, which the NIZers used and exploited expertly...

While at least a few members of Lehigh Dutchmen, INC, with its new Irish branch, have made tens of millions; and at least one politicians wife has banked some HUGE consulting fees - legal or not......taxpayers lose

What I am saying is that it is very likely that Reilly will emerge from this unscathed, as will most developers and entrepreneurs. They have no reason to steal when they can take money legally. I have seen no evidence that implicates him in any way. I have seen plenty of evidence that Fed Ed was the mastermind of a conspiracy to deprive the people of Allentown of their right to honest services. He has had many willing co-conspirators. But it is no crime to be filthy rich or to manipulate willing pols with a nod and a wink.

Great reporting as usual. Thank you for exposing a local example of how people use politics to gain tax payer funded employment. That should be seen as criminal activity as well for all parties involved.

This is why people fight tooth and nail against any governmental tax increases.

You have corruption in Allentown, potential corruption in Bethlehem with the Martin Tower situation, you have incompetence at the Northampton County Exe level.

You have a state that cannot get a budget done and when it finally gets done, there will be an additional major tax increase for what will amount to very little in the way of increased services.

It is a shame, because the average rank and file governmental worker that i deal with are truly dedicated servants. It is the corruption at the top that siphons all of the tax dollars off to their crony friends in the name of "supporting these workers" that sours people on government

He will string it out as long as he can bc he has no other source of income and this is his buggest bargaining chip. QA lot of these guys start believing their fawning sycophants, so it's also possible that he has no clue.

I disagree with the premise that Spencer and Pawlowski are the top targets. I think the FBI has just as much interest charging those that provided the kickbacks. You can't prosecute the taking of a bribe or kickback without it being offered.

I think rolling the small fish on Spencer and Pawlowski allows for Spencer and Pawlowski to roll on the private interests.

"I think rolling the small fish on Spencer and Pawlowski allows for Spencer and Pawlowski to roll on the private interests."

Disagree. The Feds always come down hardest on lawyers and government officials who violated the public trust. Private entities get deals. Public officials and crooked lawyers get the book thrown at them.

"Disagree. The Feds always come down hardest on lawyers and government officials who violated the public trust. Private entities get deals. Public officials and crooked lawyers get the book thrown at them."I agree with you. Public official is the prime target and largest fish.

You're sister Jennie, with her warped sense of reality, used to opine: "I got Fleck on one side and fletch on the other...they are two peas in a pod".

Um, no, Jennie. Perhaps you should have been paying attention more instead of trying to make lemonade out of Fleck's lemons. I'm sorry that your words are coming back to haunt you, but that's they way life goes.

Again, Ally...I know that you are a wonderful person who is going through a terrible time right now. We are there for you anytime you need it. Always. completely. honestly.

Agree that Fed Ed is going down but it would be nice to see the the real author of the NIZ and his childhood buddy, JB Reilly and Pat Browne get their just desserts. This thing has stunk from the beginning. Reilly wrote the law, knew where the zone was going and then used a straw purchaser (his brother and law) to buy up the property. There has got to be a law broken in there somewhere. Come on Feds lets go!!!!

If you look at similar cases, such as the Lackawanna County Commissioners in Scranton, the people paying the bribes typically become cooperating witnesses and get a slap on the wrist, while the public officials go to jail.

What discourages me is that after Ed is indicted there is little or no prospect for political leadership to fill the huge void that's been created in Allentown political culture.This city is an utter disgrace, top to bottom.

"Why would't fed ed come out and say he did it for the people of Allentown? Less jail time no?"No. As long as he takes responsibility, the judge has discretion to reduce the level of offense at his discretion. If I were a judge, I would totally ignore the alleged reason the criminal did what he did, but give some slack for him admitting what he did. In the case of a corrupt public official, he doesn't get any more slack in my book for violating the public's trust beyond an admission of guilt.

It would be interesting at this point to have a complete breakdown of the political involvement of every high level and maybe even mid level city hall employee. How many employees are actually Democrat activists? When I was helping Bill Heydt in his last run for mayor a Democrat poll worker asked me in all earnestness what job I hoped to get if Bill wins. When I told him I was expecting no job he was amazed.

Most Democratic activists are that way, not bc they are looking for a job, but because they believe in Democratic values. Same for the Rs. I can point to as many GOP hacks as Democratic hacks, Scott. Thinking of many of the top people in both parties, most of them seem to be there bc they care. They are not looking for anything. But there are hacks, and my guess is they are pretty evenly distributed.

Think there was a reason Martin Danks made such a change in occupations?I dealt with him twice in his former trade and found him to be extremely competent, on time,prompt with returning phone calls, and knowledgeable. A pleasure.... except for the issues that caused me to need to call his office.I have lived and own property here in the city (Allentown) for 27 years and am more used to callous city employees too busy to perform the jobs they are paid or to be bothered by tax paying citizens.I hope this is not too off topic. The thread is fairly damning, and very rightly so.I wanted to see Mr. Danks set apart from the criminals being discussed.

Bernie,with the deed title searchers being pinched, there is a bigger picture that this local corrupt organization and all OZ's complicate imp's should be aware that the FBI is going to be pulling the curtain back on¿!($ My thoughts are will this investigation lead future back than the data collected dating back to only 2005¿!($ This was not the beginning and is not the end as we all know tax collectors prior also are part of the Browne Hole¿!($

As for the sexaul deveations mentioned that has nothing to do with being a corrupted public official theif stealing from the innocent indigent children's children funds set aside as capitol start up funds¿!($ Also were is ms giggles and jiggles recovering from the pussie boil on the ass of the way coast spinkter now also facing bankruptcy like hence were it came from in that particular matter too¿!($ Obesity is a matter facing the whole of America's healthcare pension procurement process palumpasized claiming to be a cure when in fact it is the cancerous infection put to print¿!($reddpatent pending

Keep peeling back the layers of the onion. Eventually, this will lead to just about every single so called big player in this corrupt city , who ended up in the NIZ.

The real criminals who will go untouched , will be the developer and Brownie.

It is wishful thinking to believe by canning/eliminating /prosecuting/incarcerating, the fed ed crew , all will be fine and democracy will be saved in this city..lol...we all want it to end that way, but in reality, it wont.

The real issue is not the players, but it is the game. the system from the local , state and federal level is rife with waste , fraud and corruption.

We can point fingers at the democrat party and their one party rule in Allentown and blame them for everything and on some issues, that is appropriate. But this mess, happens too often, in other cities, run by the GOP as well. Both parties are corrupt and both parties could careless about watching how tax payer cash is being spent and or wasted. This is nothing new. What is new , is the amazing exposure these crimes take on, not from the local so called media, but from the citizen journalists.

The real issue , should not be the crooks who are running the show, but the People who voted for and continue to allow these crooks to make important decisions that touch every single persons life and or wallet, in the area. If one believes in truth and justice, those involved , will be held accountable.

Yes, Fed Ed and his crew are disgusting crooks beyond belief , based on the info released so far. There will be more to come as the crooks start to sing like a spring robin. The loss of ones freedom , in prison will make most players sing.

What is more disgusting beyond belief is that many People, including some on this blog, not only voted for the entire fed ed crew, some benefited business wise, some also financially supported the fed ed crew, and defended the fed ed crew every single time they had the opportunity,knowing full well he and his entire admin, were committing criminal acts, and that is very sick and sad at the same time.

8:43 AM, well said. "This is why people fight tooth and nail against any governmental tax increases".

Yet when people oppose tax hikes, they are told by the same crew like fed and , his union thugs , including the teachers unions,the media, that people who oppose tax hikes, are racists, they hate the poor, they are not for investing in our kids futures .

This is the garbage we hear every single time a school district decides to go on strike. The teachers union is not on strike to help the kids. that is a flat out lie. they are striking for themselves and their union. the union leadership could careless about the kids.

When the teachers union goes on strike, they are striking against the tax payers and get ready bc the Allentown teachers union is ready to use the recent issues involving their students and the police as a bargaining tool to get more cash from the tax payers.

People don't mind paying their fair share , for the most part.

They are sick and tired of watching their hard earned cash /tax dollars being used to pay multi millionaire developers mortgages in the NIZ and CRIZ zones and have the cash extorted from a the tax payers via a corrupt school board bought and paid for by the same fed ed admin.

When a city has more takers than makers, this is the kind of govt that is almost guaranteed, to thrive. Those who pay little or no taxes , could careless if taxes are raised.